Evaluation of GABA Detection Sensitivity Gains Achieved with an 8-Channel Phased-Array Head Coil at 3.0 T in the Human Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Using the J-editing Technique

Kegeles L, Mao X, Shungu D

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University

Low brain GABA concentrations make its in vivo detection challenging. It was recently demonstrated that use of the J-editing difference technique with a phased-array head coil at 3.0 T can significantly enhance GABA detection sensitivity for a voxel in the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In this study, we evaluated the tradeoffs for these GABA detection sensitivity gains achieved with an 8-channel phased-array coil at 3.0 T between voxel size and scan time that can be made without sacrificing spectral quality.